Reply to Are class assignments random for students in elementary school?

Forum Index » Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)

Reply to "Are class assignments random for students in elementary school?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Do they ever make a "slow" class or do they usually put a good mix of ability? We are new to FCPS 2nd grade well regarded school and I can't tell if my kid got a "slow" class or if the kids in the grade in general are just way behind.[b] Kid claimed[/b] a lot of other kids missed what I would consider to be a kindergarten level brain teaser. [/quote]

Kid claims at that age are pretty suspect IME--if one kid misses it, they over-generalize etc.  Kids don't have a good handle on the overall distribution, for most kids in ways that favor themselves being smarter than everyone else.  Also, post summer, many kids are just getting back in to listening to a teacher, following directions and are distracted and the teachers do a lot of "low ball" questions etc to build confidence.

That said, sometimes schools arrange it that the kids who have an IEP that requires some pull-out times are more concentrated in one class for scheduling purposes--this also sometimes allows there to be a more dedicated aide to handle their IEPs.  Depends on how the school structures it. In my kid's 2nd grade class it was kind of bimodal--there were a lot of kids who had IEPs who needed extra help and a lot of kids who ended up going on to AAP in 3rd grade and not that much in the middle.  [/quote]How does that work? Did the teacher effectively teach two different lessons each class? Sounds like a nightmare, unless the teacher focuses on one to the detriment of the other.[/quote]

It actually worked fairly well for my kid who went on to AAP and doesn't have an IEP.  I can't speak to how it worked for those with IEPs but it seemed okay. The teacher did instruction to the standard grade level fairly quickly, then the aide supported the kids with IEPs in a small group to respond to the standard instruction/assignments in ways that fit with their accommodations while the teacher launched the more advanced kids on assignments at a higher level.  She then generally went around the room providing individual/small group supports to all the kids.  There was a lot less whole group instruction in this 2nd grade class than there had been in 1st, but more work done and more small group with a teacher.   This was how language arts and math were done.  Science and social studies were usually done in more mixed groups.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics